Increasing eCommerce Revenue with Up-sell and Cross-sell Products

Having up-sell and cross-sell products in your eCommerce store is a reliable way to increase your revenue. But it’s not enough to keep these products on your site. You need to make sure your customers are aware of them. And don’t forget about the customer experience.

Below are some quick tips and real-life examples for how you can optimize your Magento store for increased average order value and conversion rates with up-sell and cross-sell products.

Understanding Up-Sell And Cross-Sell Products

The first step to boosting up-selling and cross-selling conversions is understanding these two strategies for increasing your total sales.

As much as 20% of your revenue can come from cross-selling related products.

Up-Selling

Up-selling happens when an existing customer agrees to buy an upgraded, deluxe, or somehow better product than the one they were looking at purchasing.

For this sale to happen, you have to convince them that the upgrade offers more value than just the basic model.

For instance, if you were selling a cell phone, you might offer a model with more storage space. Or, instead of an “a la carte” phone, you might offer a bundle that includes a phone, case, and car charger.  It’s not hard to convince someone that the deluxe model is worth the extra money. Many consumers want the most “bang for their buck” and will be happy to invest in your more robust option.

Cross-Selling

As opposed to bundling items together, cross-selling allows customers to choose items that will complement their purchase. So, while they’re buying that phone from you, they can also purchase additional items like earphones and extended warranties. Now’s your chance to tempt them with related items.

As another example, if your customer added a wetsuit to their cart from you and now they’re browsing through your swimwear section, you could offer them a related product like a bathing cap or goggles as a cross-sell. 

While you can always follow up to sell someone an extended warranty, extra battery, etc. – you can still offer those items before they checkout in the first place.

The Importance Of Up-Sell And Cross-Sell Products

Up-sell and cross-sell products can be a great way to increase your revenue, but they’re not without their risks.

If you aren’t diligent in assigning relevant up-sell and cross-sell products in your store, shoppers may be turned off. Instead of trying to up-sell or cross-sell every time, focus on the products where this will make the most sense. 

Remember that many customers will be limited by a budget. If you try to up-sell them on something overpriced or unnecessary, rather than let them checkout quickly with an item, then you’ll only risk losing the sale.

For this reason, it’s essential to test and measure your conversion rates for these products before and after adding up-sells and cross-sells.

Types Of Integrations That Impact Up-sells And Cross-Sells

Integrate With A Conversion Optimization Platform

While eCommerce platforms like Magento natively support up-selling and cross-selling, associating the right products can be time-consuming, especially if you have a large product catalog. So much so, that you may not use these revenue-increasing features as often as you should. 

In such cases, it’s best to look at a platform that can help automate this for you. From Magento Extensions like the Aheadworks Automatic Related Products extension to more comprehensive systems like Searchspring, Klevu, and Fast Simon, you can choose between systems that range from allowing you to set up rules for automatic associations, to solutions that use AI to recommend specific products to individual shoppers.

Integrate With A Marketing Automation Platform

When you integrate your online store with an eCommerce marketing automation platform like Klaviyo, DotDigital, or Emarsys, you can leverage a shopper’s purchase history to offer them cross-sells and related products.

There are a variety of automated email campaigns that help consumers discover targeted products from your store.

Designing Your Store For Up-Sells And Cross-Sells

Another vital aspect is shop design. When you’re trying to up-sell or cross-sell, you want the customer to feel like they’re getting something extra for their purchase – but it can be difficult if there are so many extras that they become distracted and overwhelmed by all the choices.

Up-sell and cross-sell products shouldn’t become distractions. In addition to making sure that your product selections work together as complementary items, you’ll also want to ensure that they don’t become intrusive for customers who might have made their first purchase already.

Conclusion

Making up-sells and cross-sells a bigger part of your business strategy can earn you more revenue, whether they’re coming from existing customers or new buyers.

While these strategies might take some time to set up, the long-term benefits outweigh the effort, mainly if you focus on optimizing your customer experience to make the best up-sell and cross-sell possible.